National Book Award`s winners announced
Baku, June 6 (AZERTAC). The winners of National Book Award (NBA) 2013, which is considered to be the most prestigious project in contemporary Azerbaijani literature, have been named.
The NBA was founded in 2009 by Ali & Nino publishing house and shortly after that drew a wide response in the public and media. The main goal of the award is to draw public attention to the Azerbaijan literature, reveal new literary works, stimulate literary creativity, and strengthen the public significance of literature in general.
According to Nigar Kocharli, the founder of the NBA, a total of 241 literary works were received during the contest, launched on 28 August 2012, 175 of which is written in prose, 58 in poetry, and 8 as fairy tales. 164 male and 77 female authors have submitted their works for the contest. The youngest writer is 7 and the oldest is 86 years old. Literary works, written mostly by 20-25-year-old authors, were received from all the regions of Azerbaijan.
“Our compatriots from Turkey, Iran, Ukraine, Russia, USA, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain and Netherlands have also submitted their works for the contest,” Kocharli said.
A shortlist of 10 works, formed based on opinion of members of the Expert Council was provided to the Jury on 15 March 2013. The Jury, which consists of well-known personalities, literature experts and intellectuals of Azerbaijan, announced the winners of the contest. The 1st place winner Zakir Sadatly awarded with AZN 3,000; the 2nd place winner Parvin Nuraliyeva with AZN 2,000, while the 3rd place winner Malik Dursunov with AZN 1,000 respectively.
Moreover, AZN 300 was awarded to the author of the best tale Afsana Lachin, AZN 300 to the best young writer Shahriyar Del Gerani and AZN 300 for the best poem Qeshem Nejefzadeh.
The main sponsor of the project is Bakcell, while the official sponsors are Bank Respublika and “Ali and Nino” Publishing House.